On Monday, September 21st, we lost our buddy Seymour to cancer. He was 12-1/2 years old. It was all very sudden, and a huge shock to us. Chris called to tell me that Seymour wasn't eating much, which wasn't unusual for him, but he would still eat doggie treats (Again, not unusual. He would not eat all weekend when we went camping, for some reason). I told him to go to the pet store and see if he could get samples of different dog foods to try, to see if he would eat. He would eat a little tiny bit. A couple days later he would eat a tiny bit and throw up. Then he wouldn't even eat a treat any more.

So on Monday, Chris took him to the vet to see Dr. Lance Gorrindo for tests. He had a high white blood cell count, which meant that he probably had an infection of some sort. Chris had him go ahead and do x-rays anyway, just to make sure nothing else was happening. Well, Dr. Lance said he couldn't even see Seymour's liver or spleen in the x-rays. He then did an ultrasound, and saw that Seymour's liver was horribly full of tumors. He suspected that the reason the organs didn't show on the x-ray was because there was fluid, containing blood, in the abdominal cavity. He did a test on the fluid, and sure enough, it was full of blood. One, or more, of the tumors had burst.

Seymour was apparently already shutting down. That is why he had stopped eating and had become a little lethargic. We opted to end his suffering that evening, with the thought of the pain he must be in, and knowing that he probably only had a few days, at most.

Seymour was the most gentle, sweet dog. He was always happy to see you, and would show it by running around the house to find a shoe, and carrying it all around the room. Never chewed one shoe, just carried them around. That was his little routine. Often, he would make little squeak noises while running around the house with the shoe.

Seymour.......you were, and are, loved dearly and will be missed terribly.

My Latest Art Piece

I have finally gotten back into doing a little art!! Over the last year I have been going with my Mom to her art group, which meets on the first Friday of each month. I have made it to all but two meetings I think, and so the group has kind of adopted me in. It is a small group of just seven, including me.

We wanted to do a group project where everyone makes their own thing, instead of making things to swap with each other, like they did for a year with a recipe book. The only thing was, we all used a shadowbox, and the subject, or theme, had to be something that flies. Birds, butterflies, flying fish, whatever you wish. I think everyone except me and my Mom finished theirs that night. I did, but it took me going back to my Mom's house and working until 2am! I love how it turned out.

In the closeup you can see that the words "Can You Fly in Your Dreams?" are stamped onto the outside of the glass. You can see the shadows of the letters on the background behind the bird. The bird is stamped from a foam stamp my Mom made. I stamped it with Jet Black StazOn ink onto a piece of foam core, and then cut it out. That was a feat in itself! The wings were cut out of Grunge Board, from the Tim Holtz line of distress products. I just put a little greenish metallic paint on them. The shadowbox was painted with Tim Holtz' Distress Crackle Paint in the "peeled paint" color. I used spanish moss, I think is what it is, in the bottom, along with some twigs. The bird is wearing a real metal crown (charm size), not paper.

American Idol

Yes, I started watching this show last year and became a David Cook fan from the time I saw his first performance. I liked alot of the Idols last year, but DC was by far my favorite.

This year it is pretty similar in that I like many of them, but one guy really stands out from the rest. That would be Adam Lambert, if you haven't guessed by now. He is just a natural performer and can take any song (so far) and make it interesting and his own. I had to put a couple of his videos here, only because blogger wouldn't seem to let me put any more than that.

MIA......

I have been missing in action for quite some time now. I have been so busy travelling back and forth from my house to my Mom's. I've been spending most of my time at my Mom's since about September. I just don't have a whole lot to say lately.


I have done some art over the last few months, but have not scanned or photographed any of it yet. I haven't been able to ride my bike or walk my dogs because of my back. Walking is fine, but when I walk the dogs, Sierra pulls so hard that it kills my back. I have one of those face harness things to try, but I kind of think it won't work for her. My Mom and I use one on her (I mean "our") little doggie, Burki, and it doesn't always work on her either.

Burki is so cute, but very strong for a small dog, due to the Incredible Hulk thighs she has. Burki thinks I am her 2nd mommy, as I have been there most of the time since we brought her home. She is in an obedience class now and is learning lots of tricks including: sit, shake, lay down, roll over, stay, high five, and leave it. She is so proud of herself and just loves doing these tricks.

She tucks me into bed every night that I am there. Once in a while she will sleep next to me all night. But, she usually sleeps next to her #1 mommy, and then in the morning she comes in to snuggle with me for a bit. When I start to pet her, she will roll onto her back so I will tickle her tummy. She will lie there forever, as long as you keep tickling.

I sure hope we can get this adorable little bully to stop chewing up everything we give her, and many things we didn't give her. My Mom's backyard is a mess from Burki chewing all the drip lines to the landscaping. Everything we have given her to make her more comfortable in her kennel when we are gone has been chewed and/or eaten. A bed in the shape of a couch, a wood and wicker chair, and some small rugs have been destroyed, and she is working on the big area rug my sister Kathy gave her. She hasn't yet, to my knowledge, torn up her blanket though. My Mom got her a blanket at a thrift store and cut it into several pieces. She loves them, and has removed the silky edging, but they are still mostly intact with a few small holes from playing with them.

Gonna wrap this up for now. I'm freezing and need to move around. The wind has been howling for over 2 days straight now. It makes me cold listening to it. It probably doesn't help that I'm sitting here in capri's at the end of February.